LeBron on Team of LeBron Clones: 'That's Not a Bad Idea'

LeBron James was talking strategy an hour before Game 3 of the Orlando-Cleveland Eastern Conference final, and he came up with a novel idea for his Cavaliers.

James was talking specifically about the Cavaliers defense in the closing stages of Games 1 and 2. He was guarding Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu at the end of Game 1 when Rashard Lewis hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 14.7 remaining. He was guarding Lewis at the end of Game 2 when Turkoglu hit what everyone thought was the game winner with one second remaining.

Of course, James trumped him with his own miracle shot, but the fact the Cavs have struggled defensively against Orlando still bothered him.

"They give us matchup problems, but I'm only one guy. I can't be everywhere. If I could clone myself, we'd be all right,'' he said with a chuckle. "That's not a bad idea, is it?''

Defensively, James has excelled all season, joining the Magic's Dwight Howard on the league's All-Defensive team.

It took Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, though, to open a conversation about why there was such a wide difference in personal fouls called against the two stars. Howard went into Game 3 with 60 personal fouls in 14 playoff games. James had just 15 personal fouls in 10 games.

"The only thing I can say is, he doesn't foul much,'' Van Gundy said. "He's pretty active defensively, so I have no answer to explain why. ''

When Howard was asked about the personal foul discrepancy, he paused a few seconds and shook his head. The topic obviously bothered him, but he was not about to start complaining about the officials before the game.

"He's LeBron James. I'm not going to get into that,'' Howard said. "Next question.''